German records

[snoopysue]

Does anyone have any experience finding German records?

I've now got to parts of my husbands family that have lived there.
On the one it's Flensburg, which for the year I'm interested in might still have been Denmark, by 1864 it was Germany, so I don't know what would have happened to the Parish records.
The other area is near the Polish border (Brandenburg) between 1878 and about 1890.

Thanks
Snoopy Sue

[Fatman]

I have a small amount of knowledge - there are Stadtgesamt which are like registry offices, but they are local rather than being national.

Often, you will have to contact the local one and prove that you are a relative before they will release information.

Unfortunately, when I tried to find mine, they said it was too much effort to find information before a certain date, which is what I needed!
Andrew

[MarkCDodd]

Try the LDS Pilot. They let you search on Parish and will prompt if the parish can be in several counties/provinces/countries.

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=home

[snoopysue]

Thanks Fatman, sounds like it's going to be an uphill strugle!

I've found out that the Flensburg records are on microfilm in Denmark - Bit of a funny one as before 1864 Flensburg was Danish, then the germans pinched a rather large chunk of Denmark. In 1920 there was a plebocite and about half of the land became Danish again - unfortunately Flensburg is just south of the border.
There are other previously Danish towns available as well, but as they're now German, the records are under the German rules - which like you say you have to prove you're a relative. Which means I'd probably have to persuade my husband to apply - the nearest place these documents are available is about an hour away.

I've tried LDS, but not with parish - I'll have another go! Thanks Mark.